Conditional disclosure of a response to content posted in a social network

ABSTRACT

Technologies are generally described for a social networking service (SNS). In some examples, a method performed under control of a server may include receiving a user input associated with the user responding to content posted in an online forum, determining whether a threshold condition set by the user is satisfied for the user&#39;s response to be disclosed with regard to a particular piece of content posted in the online forum, and disclosing the user&#39;s response to the particular piece of content posted in the online forum when the threshold condition is determined to be satisfied.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application under 35 U.S.C. § 120 ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/878,153, filed on Apr. 5, 2013, nowU.S. Pat. No. 9,208,473, which is a U.S. National Stage filing under 35U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No. PCT/US12/66328, filed onNov. 21, 2012. The disclosures of both U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/878,153 and International Application No. PCT/US12/66328 are herebyincorporated by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

Social networking services such as, for example, Facebook® and Twitter®are widely used worldwide. Via such social networking services, usersfreely post descriptions of their activities, their ideas and/oropinions, images and/or videos, news, and/or any other digital contentthat they want to share with others. Also, the users can express theiropinion with regard to other users' posts by simply using the “like”function of Facebook® and/or the “retweet” function of Twitter®.

SUMMARY

In an example, a method performed under control of a server may includereceiving a user input associated with the user responding to contentposted in an online forum, determining whether a threshold condition setby the user is satisfied for the user's response to be disclosed withregard to a particular piece of content posted in the online forum, anddisclosing the user's response to the particular piece of content postedin the online forum when the threshold condition is determined to besatisfied.

In another example, a social networking service (SNS) server may includea user input receiving unit configured to receive a user inputassociated with the user making a response to content posted in anonline forum, and a disclosure determination unit configured todetermine whether to disclose the user's response to a particular pieceof content posted in the online forum based at least in part on athreshold condition being satisfied.

In yet another example, a computer-readable storage medium may storethereon computer-executable instructions that, in response to execution,cause a server to perform operations including receiving a user inputassociated with the user making a response to a particular piece ofcontent posted in an online forum, and conditionally disclosing theuser's response to the particular piece of content posted in the onlineforum when a threshold condition is satisfied.

The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be inany way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments,and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and featureswill become apparent by reference to the drawings and the followingdetailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The foregoing and other features of this disclosure will become moreapparent from the following description and appended claims, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings. Understanding that thesedrawings depict only several embodiments in accordance with thedisclosure and are, therefore, not to be considered limiting of itsscope, the disclosure will be described with additional specificity anddetail through use of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 schematically shows an illustrative example of an online forum,arranged in accordance with at least some embodiments described herein;

FIG. 2 schematically shows an illustrative example of a conditionsetting tool, arranged in accordance with at least some embodimentsdescribed herein;

FIG. 3 shows a schematic block diagram illustrating an examplearchitecture of a server, arranged in accordance with at least someembodiments described herein;

FIG. 4 shows an example flow diagram of a process for disclosing auser's response to a piece of content in an online forum, arranged inaccordance with at least some embodiments described herein;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example computer program product that may beutilized to provide a conditional disclosure of a user's response to apiece of content in an online forum, arranged in accordance with atleast some embodiments described herein; and

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example computing device thatmay be utilized to provide a conditional disclosure of a user's responseto a piece of content in an online forum, arranged in accordance with atleast some embodiments described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings,similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless contextdictates otherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in thedetailed description, drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting.Other embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made,without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matterpresented herein. It will be readily understood that the aspects of thepresent disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated inthe drawings, can be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, anddesigned in a wide variety of different configurations, all of which areexplicitly contemplated herein.

This disclosure is generally drawn, inter alia, to methods, apparatuses,systems, devices, and computer program products related to a socialnetworking service (SNS). Further, technologies are herein generallydescribed for conditionally disclosing user's response to a piece ofcontent posted in an online forum, such as, for example, in a socialnetworking sites (e.g., Facebook®, Twitter®, etc.), blogs, news articlesites, and so on.

In some examples, a user may wish to respond to a particular piece ofcontent posted in the online forum. By way of example, but notlimitation, the user may express his/her consent, interest and/oragreement with the piece of content posted in the online forum by givinga favorability rating to the piece of content (e.g., “like” inFacebook®) and/or re-posting the piece of content (e.g., “retweet” inTwitter®). However, at the same time, the user may be concerned withothers' opinions about the piece of content. As a descriptive exampleonly, when the piece of content is critical of the user's boss, the usermay want to express agreement with the posted content, but the user maybe concerned with the boss' reaction to the posted content. In suchcases, the user may use a conditional disclosure function provided by aserver (e.g., a social networking service (SNS) server). In the aboveexample, the user may request that the server disclose his/her responseonly if the user's boss makes a same response to the posted content.

In some examples, the user may set a condition under which the servermay determine to disclose the user's response to the piece of content.By way of example, but not limitation, the user may set the conditionfor disclosing his/her response as a threshold number of other usershaving made a same response. As another example, but not as alimitation, the user may set the condition for disclosing his/herresponse as a threshold number of other users in a predetermined group(e.g., a social group such as a family group, a friends group, aco-workers group, etc.) having made a same response. As yet anotherexample, but not as a limitation, the user may set the condition fordisclosing his/her response as a specified other user (e.g., a boss,parents, etc.) having made a same response.

In some example embodiments, the server may provide the user with acondition setting tool so that the user may select his/her desiredcondition. As an example, but not as a limitation, the server may allowthe user to determine and/or select the condition whenever the userresponds to a piece of content in the online forum. As another example,but not as a limitation, the server may allow the user to specify adefault condition to be applied when the user responds to any piece ofcontent in the online forum.

FIG. 1 schematically shows an illustrative example of an online forum100, arranged in accordance with at least some embodiments describedherein.

As depicted, one of users of online forum 100 (whose name is “John Doe”in FIG. 1) may post content 110 in online forum 100. Online forum 100may show content 110 as well as multiple buttons including, for example,a favorability button 120, a conditional favorability button 130, and acomment button 140, for interfacing with the users of online forum 100.By way of example, but not limitation, the users of online forum 100 maymake their favorable response, i.e., express their favorability (e.g.,consent, interest and/or appreciation) to content 110 by tapping orclicking favorability button 120 or conditional favorability button 130.The users may also write or post comments on content 110 by tapping orclicking comment button 140. Online forum 100 may also show a text 150indicating a number of people who expressed favorability of content 110.When the users tap or click on text 150, online forum 100 may show alist of users who expressed favorability of content 110. Online forum100 may also show comments 160-1, 160-2 and 160-3 written by the users.

In some embodiments, online forum 100 may provide the users with aconditional favorability function. The users may use the conditionalfavorability function by tapping or clicking conditional favorabilitybutton 130. When one of the users (hereinafter, user A) taps or clicksconditional favorability button 130, a server (not shown) associatedwith online forum 100 (e.g., hosting, operating and/or controllingonline forum 100) may determine whether a threshold condition, which mayset by user A, is satisfied for content 110. Then, the server maydisclose user A's response to content 110 (i.e., giving a favorabilityrating to content 110), when it has been determined that the thresholdcondition is satisfied. In some embodiments, the server may enable userA to set or determine the threshold condition by providing user A with acondition setting tool, which will be described in more details withreference to FIG. 2.

In some embodiments, the threshold condition may be associated with oneor more responses made by other users with regard to content 110. By wayof example, but not limitation, the threshold condition may beassociated with a minimum number of the other users who have made a sameresponse with regard to content 110, that is, who expressed favorabilityof content 110. In such cases, when the number of the other users whoexpressed favorability of content 110 is less than the threshold numberset by user A, online forum 100 may not disclose that user A hasexpressed his/her favorability of content 110. Meanwhile, when thenumber of the other users who expressed favorability of content 110 isat least equal to the threshold number, online forum 100 may disclosethat user A also expressed favorability of content 110.

In some other embodiments, the threshold condition may be associatedwith one or more responses made by other users in a predetermined group(e.g., a social group such as a family group, a friends group, aco-workers group, etc.) with regard to content 110. By way of example,but not limitation, the threshold condition may be associated with athreshold number of the other users in the predetermined group who havemade a same response with regard to content 110, that is, who expressedfavorability of content 110. In such cases, when the number of the otherusers in the predetermined group who expressed favorability of content110 is less than the threshold number set by user A, online forum 100may not disclose that user A has expressed his/her favorability ofcontent 110. Meanwhile, when the number of the other users in thepredetermined group who expressed favorability of content 110 is atleast equal to the threshold number, online forum 100 may disclose thatuser A also expressed favorability of content 110.

In yet some other embodiments, the threshold condition may be associatedwith a specified other user's response to content 110. By way ofexample, but not limitation, user A may specify or select another user(hereinafter, user B), so that when user B has made a same response withregard to content 110, that is, has expressed his/her favorability ofcontent 110, online forum 100 may disclose that user A also expressedfavorability of content 110.

In some embodiments, when the server determines not to disclose user A'sresponse, online forum 100 may not count user A in the number of peopleto be shown as text 150. In some alternative embodiments, when theserver determines not to disclose user A's response, online forum 100may count user A in the number of people to be shown as text 150, butconceal an identity of user A in the list of users who expressedfavorability of content 110.

Although it is described that online forum 100 shows favorability button120 and conditional favorability button 130 separately in the aboveexamples, those skilled in the art will appreciate that online forum 100may provide the users with one kind of favorability button which mayserve as both of favorability button 120 and conditional favorabilitybutton 130 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 2 schematically shows an illustrative example of a conditionsetting tool 200, arranged in accordance with at least some embodimentsdescribed herein.

In some embodiments, a server may provide condition setting tool 200 sothat the user may specify a default condition to be applied when theuser taps or clicks conditional favorability button 130. The user'sdevice may display condition setting tool 200 provided by the server,and the user may interact with the server via condition setting tool 200displayed on his/her device.

In some embodiments, condition setting tool 200 may include severalbuttons to be selected by the user, including a “public” button 210, a“number of people” button 220, a “number of friends” button 230, an“always ask” button 240, and a “custom” button 250. By selecting“public” button 210, the user may not use a conditional favorabilityfunction for online forum 100. By selecting “number of people” button220, the user may set the default condition as disclosing his/herresponse when a threshold number of other users have made a sameresponse, and select the threshold number by entering a desired numberin an area 225. By selecting “number of friends” button 230, the usermay set the default condition as disclosing his/her response when athreshold number of other users in a predetermined group (e.g., afriends group) have made a same response, and select the thresholdnumber by entering a desired number in an area 235. By selecting “alwaysask” button 240, the user may not determine the default condition, andmay select different conditions for respective cases whenever the usertaps or clicks conditional favorability button 130. By selecting“custom” button 250, the user may customize the condition as he/shedesires.

Although the above examples with reference to FIGS. 1-2 are describedunder an assumption that the users' responses with regard to content 110are a favorability rating for content 110, those skilled in the art willappreciate that the above examples are not limited in terms of types ofthe users' opinion expression. For example, the users' responses mayinclude an intention of re-posting content 110.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic block diagram illustrating an examplearchitecture of a server 300, arranged in accordance with at least someembodiments described herein.

Server 300 may be a server device, a server farm or a server clusterhosting, operating and/or controlling online forum 100. Examples ofserver 300 may include, but are not limited to, a social networkingservice (SNS) server.

As depicted in FIG. 3, server 300 may include a user input receivingunit 310, a disclosure determination unit 320 and a condition settingunit 330. Although illustrated as discrete components, variouscomponents may be divided into additional components, combined intofewer components, or eliminated while being contemplated within thescope of the disclosed subject matter. It will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that each function and/or operation of the componentsmay be implemented, individually and/or collectively, by a wide range ofhardware, software, firmware, or virtually any combination thereof.

User input receiving unit 310 may be configured to receive from a useran input associated with the user making a response to content 110posted in online forum 100. By way of example, but not limitation, theuser's response may include a favorability rating for content 110. Byway of another example, but not limitation, the user's response mayinclude the user's intention of re-posting content 110.

Disclosure determination unit 320 may be configured to determine whetherto disclose the user's response to content 110 based at least in part ona threshold condition being satisfied. Disclosure determination unit 320may determine whether the threshold condition is satisfied with regardto content 110, and disclose the user's response to content 110 when thethreshold condition is satisfied.

In some embodiments, when the threshold condition is associated with oneor more responses made by other users with regard to content 110,disclosure determination unit 320 may be further configured to disclosethe user's response with regard to content 110 when a number of otherusers who have made a same response as the user with regard to content110 exceeds a threshold number predetermined by the user. In some otherembodiments, when the threshold condition is associated with responsesmade by other users in a predetermined group with regard to content 110,disclosure determination unit 320 may be further configured to disclosethe user's response with regard to content 110 when a number of theother users in the predetermined group who have made a same response asthe user exceeds a threshold number predetermined by the user. In yetanother embodiment, when the threshold condition is associated with aresponse made by a specified other user in online forum 100, disclosuredetermination unit 320 may be further configured to disclose the user'sresponse to content 110 when the response made by the specified otheruser is the same as the user's response.

Condition setting unit 330 may be configured to set the condition basedat least in part on input from the user. In some embodiments, conditionsetting unit 330 may provide the user with condition setting tool 200(in FIG. 2), and set the condition based at least in part on the user'sinteraction with condition setting tool 200.

In some embodiments, condition setting unit 330 may change the conditionbased at least in part on a property of content 110 posted in onlineforum 100. By way of example, but not limitation, when content 110relates to a political issue, condition setting unit 330 may set thecondition as disclosing the user's response when a specified other user(e.g., an opinion leader) makes a same response to content 110, whilewhen content 110 relates to a light issue, condition setting unit 330may set the condition as disclosing the user's response when apredetermined number of other users in a friends group make a sameresponse. In some embodiments, condition setting unit 330 may detect theproperty of content 110 based at least in part on semanticinterpretation of content 110 and/or input from users of online forum100 (e.g., tagging by the user of online forum 100).

As such, server 300 may introduce into an online social network anoffline behavior by which a person only agrees with a concept if enoughother people do, or a leader or boss does.

FIG. 4 shows an example flow diagram of a process 400 for disclosing auser's response to a piece of content in an online forum, arranged inaccordance with at least some embodiments described herein.

Process 400 may be implemented in a server such as server 300 includinguser input receiving unit 310, disclosure determination unit 320 andcondition setting unit 330, described above. Process 400 may include oneor more operations, actions, or functions as illustrated by one or moreblocks 410, 420, 430 and/or 440. Although illustrated as discreteblocks, various blocks may be divided into additional blocks, combinedinto fewer blocks, or eliminated, depending on the desiredimplementation. Processing may begin at block 410.

At block 410 (Receive User Input Associated with User Making Response toContent), server 300 (e.g., user input receiving unit 310) may receivethe user input associated with the user making his/her response tocontent 110 posted in online forum 100. By way of example, but notlimitation, the user's response may include a favorability rating forcontent 110 and/or the user's intention of re-posting content 110.Processing may continue from block 410 to decision block 420.

At decision block 420 (Threshold Condition Is Satisfied?), server 300(e.g., disclosure determination unit 320) may determine whether athreshold condition by the user is satisfied for the user's response tobe disclosed with regard to content 110. The threshold condition may beassociated with one or more responses being made by other users withregard to content 110, one or more responses being made by other usersin a predetermined group with regard to content 110, and/or a responsebeing made by a specified other user with regard to content 110. When itis determined that the threshold condition is satisfied, processing maycontinue from decision block 420 to block decision 430. Otherwise,processing may continue from decision block 420 to block 440.

At block 430 (Disclose User's Response), server 300 may disclose theuser's response to content 110.

At block 440 (Not Disclose User's Response), server 300 may not disclosethe user's response to content 110. In some embodiments, server 300 maythen iterate or repeat decision block 420 when more users further maketheir responses with regard to content 110.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that, for this and otherprocesses and methods disclosed herein, the functions performed in theprocesses and methods may be implemented in differing order.Furthermore, the outlined steps and operations are only provided asexamples, and some of the steps and operations may be optional, combinedinto fewer steps and operations, or expanded into additional steps andoperations without detracting from the essence of the disclosedembodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example computer program product 500 that may beutilized to provide a conditional disclosure of a user's response to apiece of content in an online forum, arranged in accordance with atleast some embodiments described herein.

Program product 500 may include a signal bearing medium 502. Signalbearing medium 502 may include one or more instructions 504 that, whenexecuted by, for example, a processor, may provide the functionalitydescribed above with respect to FIGS. 1-4. By way of example,instructions 504 may include: one or more instructions for receiving auser input associated with the user making a response to a particularpiece of content posted in an online forum; or one or more instructionsfor conditionally disclosing the user's response to the particular pieceof content posted in the online forum when a threshold condition issatisfied. Thus, for example, referring to FIG. 3, server 300 mayundertake one or more of the blocks shown in FIG. 4 in response toinstructions 504.

In some implementations, signal bearing medium 502 may encompass acomputer-readable medium 506, such as, but not limited to, a hard diskdrive, a CD, a DVD, a digital tape, memory, etc. In someimplementations, signal bearing medium 502 may encompass a recordablemedium 508, such as, but not limited to, memory, read/write (R/W) CDs,R/W DVDs, etc. In some implementations, signal bearing medium 502 mayencompass a communications medium 510, such as, but not limited to, adigital and/or an analog communication medium (e.g., a fiber opticcable, a waveguide, a wired communications link, a wirelesscommunication link, etc.). Thus, for example, program product 500 may beconveyed to one or more modules of server 300 by an RF signal bearingmedium 502, where the signal bearing medium 502 is conveyed by awireless communications medium 510 (e.g., a wireless communicationsmedium conforming with the IEEE 802.11 standard).

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example computing device 600that may be utilized to provide a conditional disclosure of a user'sresponse to a piece of content in an online forum, arranged inaccordance with at least some embodiments described herein.

In these examples, elements of computing device 600 may be arranged orconfigured for a server. In a very basic configuration 602, computingdevice 600 typically includes one or more processors 604 and a systemmemory 606. A memory bus 608 may be used for communicating betweenprocessor 604 and system memory 606.

Depending on the desired configuration, processor 604 may be of any typeincluding but not limited to a microprocessor (μP), a microcontroller(μC), a digital signal processor (DSP), or any combination thereof.Processor 604 may include one or more levels of caching, such as a levelone cache 610 and a level two cache 612, a processor core 614, andregisters 616. An example processor core 614 may include an arithmeticlogic unit (ALU), a floating point unit (FPU), a digital signalprocessing core (DSP Core), or any combination thereof. An examplememory controller 618 may also be used with processor 604, or in someimplementations memory controller 618 may be an internal part ofprocessor 604.

Depending on the desired configuration, system memory 606 may be of anytype including but not limited to volatile memory (such as RAM),non-volatile memory (such as ROM, flash memory, etc.) or any combinationthereof. System memory 606 may include an operating system 620, one ormore applications 622, and program data 624. Application 622 may includeinstructions 626 that may be arranged to perform the functions asdescribed herein including the actions described with respect to theserver 300 architecture as shown in FIG. 3 or including the actionsdescribed with respect to the flow charts shown in FIG. 4. In someexamples, application 622 may be arranged to operate with program data624 on an operating system 620 such that implementations forinstructions for a computing system as described herein.

Computing device 600 may have additional features or functionality, andadditional interfaces to facilitate communications between basicconfiguration 602 and any required devices and interfaces. For example,a bus/interface controller 630 may be used to facilitate communicationsbetween basic configuration 602 and one or more data storage devices 632via a storage interface bus 634. Data storage devices 632 may beremovable storage devices 636, non-removable storage devices 638, or acombination thereof. Examples of removable storage and non-removablestorage devices include magnetic disk devices such as flexible diskdrives and hard-disk drives (HDD), optical disk drives such as compactdisk (CD) drives or digital versatile disk (DVD) drives, solid statedrives (SSD), and tape drives to name a few. Example computer storagemedia may include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removablemedia implemented in any method or technology for storage ofinformation, such as computer readable instructions, data structures,program modules, or other data.

System memory 606, removable storage devices 636 and non-removablestorage devices 638 are examples of computer storage media. Computerstorage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flashmemory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD)or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magneticdisk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other mediumwhich may be used to store the desired information and which may beaccessed by computing device 600. Any such computer storage media may bepart of computing device 600.

Computing device 600 may also include an interface bus 640 forfacilitating communication from various interface devices (e.g., outputdevices 642, peripheral interfaces 644, and communication devices 646)to basic configuration 602 via bus/interface controller 630. Exampleoutput devices 642 include a graphics processing unit 648 and an audioprocessing unit 650, which may be configured to communicate to variousexternal devices such as a display or speakers via one or more A/V ports652. Example peripheral interfaces 644 include a serial interfacecontroller 654 or a parallel interface controller 656, which may beconfigured to communicate with external devices such as input devices(e.g., keyboard, mouse, pen, voice input device, touch input device,etc.) or other peripheral devices (e.g., printer, scanner, etc.) via oneor more I/O ports 658. An example communication device 646 includes anetwork controller 660, which may be arranged to facilitatecommunications with one or more other computing devices 662 over anetwork communication link via one or more communication ports 664.

The network communication link may be one example of a communicationmedia. Communication media may typically be embodied by computerreadable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other datain a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transportmechanism, and may include any information delivery media. A “modulateddata signal” may be a signal that has one or more of its characteristicsset or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal.By way of example, and not limitation, communication media may includewired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, andwireless media such as acoustic, radio frequency (RE), microwave,infrared (IR) and other wireless media. The term computer readable mediaas used herein may include both storage media and communication media.

Computing device 600 may be implemented as a portion of a small-formfactor portable (or mobile) electronic device such as a cell phone, apersonal data assistant (PDA), a personal media player device, awireless web-watch device, a personal headset device, an applicationspecific device, or a hybrid device that include any of the abovefunctions. Computing device 600 may also be implemented as a personalcomputer including both laptop computer and non-laptop computerconfigurations.

The present disclosure is not to be limited in terms of the particularembodiments described in this application, which are intended asillustrations of various aspects. Many modifications and variations canbe made without departing from its spirit and scope, as will be apparentto those skilled in the art. Functionally equivalent methods andapparatuses within the scope of the disclosure, in addition to thoseenumerated herein, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from theforegoing descriptions. Such modifications and variations are intendedto fall within the scope of the appended claims. The present disclosureis to be limited only by the terms of the appended claims, along withthe full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It isto be understood that this disclosure is not limited to particularmethods, reagents, compounds, compositions or biological systems, whichcan, of course, vary. It is also to be understood that the terminologyused herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodimentsonly, and is not intended to be limiting.

With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singularterms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from theplural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as isappropriate to the context and/or application. The varioussingular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sakeof clarity.

It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, termsused herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of theappended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term“including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” theterm “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term“includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,”etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if aspecific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such anintent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence ofsuch recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid tounderstanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of theintroductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claimrecitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed toimply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinitearticles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing suchintroduced claim recitation to embodiments containing only one suchrecitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases“one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or“an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should be interpreted to mean “at least one”or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articlesused to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specificnumber of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, thoseskilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should beinterpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the barerecitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, means at leasttwo recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in thoseinstances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C,etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the senseone having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “asystem having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not belimited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and Btogether, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and Ctogether, etc.). In those instances where a convention analogous to “atleast one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, in general such a constructionis intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understandthe convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” wouldinclude but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, Calone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A,B, and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those withinthe art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting twoor more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, ordrawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities ofincluding one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. Forexample, the phrase “A or B” will be understood to include thepossibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”

In addition, where features or aspects of the disclosure are describedin terms of Markush groups, those skilled in the art will recognize thatthe disclosure is also thereby described in terms of any individualmember or subgroup of members of the Markush group.

As will be understood by one skilled in the art, for any and allpurposes, such as in terms of providing a written description, allranges disclosed herein also encompass any and all possible subrangesand combinations of subranges thereof. Any listed range can be easilyrecognized as sufficiently describing and enabling the same range beingbroken down into at least equal halves, thirds, quarters, fifths,tenths, etc.

As a non-limiting example, each range discussed herein can be readilybroken down into a lower third, middle third and upper third, etc. Aswill also be understood by one skilled in the art all language such as“up to,” “at least,” and the like include the number recited and referto ranges which can be subsequently broken down into subranges asdiscussed above. Finally, as will be understood by one skilled in theart, a range includes each individual member. Thus, for example, a grouphaving 1-3 cells refers to groups having 1, 2, or 3 cells. Similarly, agroup having 1-5 cells refers to groups having 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 cells,and so forth.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that various embodiments ofthe present disclosure have been described herein for purposes ofillustration, and that various modifications may be made withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure.Accordingly, the various embodiments disclosed herein are not intendedto be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method performed by one or more computerservers that include a processor configured to executecomputer-executable instructions stored in a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium to cause the one or more computerservers to perform the method, the method comprising: detecting, by theone or more computer servers, a first user input from a first user,wherein the first user input is associated with a user response from thefirst user to a particular piece of content posted in an online forum bya second user, and wherein the particular piece of content is displayedon a device associated with the first user; detecting, by the one ormore computer servers, a second user input from the first user, whereinthe second user input is associated with an interaction of the firstuser with a condition setting tool that is executed by the one or morecomputer servers and that is displayed on the device associated with thefirst user, wherein the condition setting tool includes at least aconditional favorability function, and wherein the conditionalfavorability function includes a plurality of selectable conditionsassociated with a disclosure of the user response from the first user,in the online forum, to the particular piece of content; setting, by thecondition setting tool, a selected condition of the plurality ofselectable conditions, based on the second user input, wherein theselected condition is set for the disclosure of the user response fromthe first user, in the online forum, to the particular piece of content;and disclosing, by the one or more computer servers, the user responseto the particular piece of content posted in the online forum after theselected condition is met, else preventing the disclosure of the userresponse in the online forum while the selected condition is unmet, suchthat the one or more computer servers provide a conditional disclosurecapability in which the disclosure of the user response or theprevention of the disclosure thereof is made controllable through thecondition setting tool and by the selected condition set by thecondition setting tool.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the userresponse includes an expression of favorability to the particular pieceof content posted in the online forum, a re-posting of the particularpiece of content posted in the online forum, or a favorability ratinggiven to the particular piece of content posted in the online forum. 3.The method of claim 1, wherein the selected condition is associated withone or more responses to the particular piece of content posted in theonline forum made by other users in a group or by a specified otheruser.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected condition isassociated with a minimum number of other users who have made a sameresponse to the particular piece of content posted in the online forum.5. The method of claim 1, wherein the setting includes specifying adefault condition.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the settingincludes enabling the first user to set the selected condition after thefirst user input is received.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein thesetting includes setting the selected condition after a favorabilitybutton in the online forum or a comment button in the online forum istapped or clicked.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the online forumincludes a social networking site.
 9. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising disclosing, by the one or more computer servers, a useridentity after the selected condition is met.
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein the selected condition includes a property of the particularpiece of content.
 11. A computer server that includes a processorconfigured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the computer servercomprising: a user input receiver unit configured to: receive a firstuser input from a user device associated with a first user, wherein thefirst user input is from the first user and is associated with a userresponse from the first user to a particular piece of content posted inan online forum by a second user, and wherein the particular piece ofcontent is displayed on the user device; and receive a second user inputfrom the user device; a condition setting tool that includes at least aconditional favorability function, wherein the conditional favorabilityfunction includes a plurality of selectable conditions associated with adisclosure of the user response from the first user, in the onlineforum, to the particular piece of content, and wherein the conditionsetting tool is configured to: set a selected condition, of theplurality of selectable conditions, based on the second user input,wherein the selected condition is set for the disclosure of the userresponse from the first user, in the online forum, to the particularpiece of content, and wherein the second user input is associated withan interaction of the first user with the condition setting tool; and adisclosure determination unit configured to disclose the user responsefrom the first user to the particular piece of content posted in theonline forum, after the selected condition is met.
 12. The computerserver of claim 11, wherein the computer server includes a socialnetworking service (SNS) server, and wherein the online forum isassociated with the SNS server.
 13. The computer server of claim 11,wherein the selected condition includes a minimum number of other userswho have submitted a same response to the particular piece of contentposted in the online forum.
 14. The computer server of claim 11, whereinthe disclosure determination unit is further configured to disclose auser identity after the selected condition is met.
 15. The computerserver of claim 11, wherein the condition setting tool includes one ormore buttons, and wherein each button corresponds to a respectiveselectable condition.
 16. A system, comprising: a user device; and oneor more computer servers that are communicatively coupled to the userdevice and that include a processor configured to executecomputer-executable instructions stored in a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium, wherein the one or more computerservers are configured to: receive a first user input from a first userthat uses the user device, wherein the first user input is received fromthe user device and is associated with a user response from the firstuser to a particular piece of content posted in an online forum by asecond user, and wherein the particular piece of content is displayed onthe user device; receive a second user input from the user device,wherein the second user input is associated with an interaction of thefirst user with a condition setting tool that is executed by the one ormore computer servers and that is displayed on the user device, whereinthe condition setting tool includes at least a conditional favorabilityfunction, and wherein the conditional favorability function includes aplurality of selectable conditions associated with a disclosure of theuser response from the first user, in the online forum, to theparticular piece of content; set a selected condition of the pluralityof selectable conditions, by use of the condition setting tool and basedon the second user input; detect a property of the particular piece ofcontent based at least, in part, on semantic interpretation of theparticular piece of content or input from users of the online forum;modify the selected condition based on the detected property of theparticular piece of content; and disclose the user response to theparticular piece of content posted in the online forum after themodified condition is met, wherein the user device is configured to:transmit the first user input to the one or more computer servers; andtransmit the second user input to the one or more computer servers. 17.The system of claim 16, wherein the user response includes an expressionof favorability to the particular piece of content posted in the onlineforum or a re-posting of the particular piece of content posted in theonline forum.
 18. The system of claim 16, wherein the selected conditionis associated with one or more responses to the particular piece ofcontent posted in the online forum made by other users in a group or bya specified other user.
 19. The system of claim 16, wherein the selectedcondition includes a minimum number of other users who have expressedtheir favorability to the particular piece of content posted in theonline forum.
 20. The system of claim 16, wherein the one or morecomputer servers are further configured to count users who havesubmitted a same response to the particular piece of content posted inthe online forum but have concealed their identity until the selectedcondition is met.